Ceremony marks Home2 Suites project downtown; 113-room hotel being built just west of Lurleen Wallace Boulevard South

Tuesday

Aug 5, 2014 at 11:00 PMAug 6, 2014 at 1:01 AM

Texas businessman Michael Harrell eyed Tuscaloosa as a place where he wanted to build a hotel for almost a decade. Three years ago, he said, he began in earnest to look for a site.

By Patrick RupinskiBusiness Editor

Texas businessman Michael Harrell eyed Tuscaloosa as a place where he wanted to build a hotel for almost a decade. Three years ago, he said, he began in earnest to look for a site. “We looked at a lot of sites (in Tuscaloosa) and this one is the best,” he told a gathering of business leaders and government officials as they ceremoniously broke ground downtown for a $13 million, 113-room Home2 Suites by Hilton.The hotel is being built in the 2600 block of University Boulevard just west of Lurleen Wallace Boulevard South. It is slated to open in April 2015 and construction is already under way. The site has been cleared and graded and some infrastructure like sewer and water lines have been laid. Foundation work should start within a few weeks, according to Harrison Construction of Tuscaloosa, which has partnered with Ebco General Contractor Ltd. of Texas to build the four-story hotel.Home2 Suites is the second going up downtown. The Embassy Suites, a $31 million, 154-room hotel under construction two blocks from the Home2 Suites, is in the final stages of construction and is slated to open in December.Harrell said there will be a synergy in having the two hotels so close to each. Rather than compete for guests, they will complement each other and help draw travelers to the downtown.The Embassy Suites will host conferences whose attendees typically want to stay nearby, said Harrell, CEO and founder of Houston-based Vista Host. Those not staying at the Embassy Suites are more likely to stay within walking distance of the conference, which will benefit Home2 Suites.The redevelopment of Tuscaloosa’s downtown attracted Harrell and his fellow investors, who include Cohen Investments of Memphis, Tenn., which is headed by University of Alabama alumni Eliot and Stuart Cohen.“We have been in this market looking for a long time. ...The downtown setting is the perfect spot,” Harrell said. “There has been a lot of focus in developing the downtown’s nightlife and restaurants and entertainment. ...We wanted to be near other demand generators — the university, the downtown restaurants and there’s a lot of entertainment venues.”That’s important for hotels because guests want to be able to stroll to restaurants and entertainment, he said, and visitors particularly want to taste local offerings that differ from what the restaurants have at home.“As we move forward, I think you will see 200 to 300 more people (guests at the two hotels) who will be filling those nearby restaurants.”That will add to the downtown’s vibrancy and could attract additional development downtown — a point not lost on Tuscaloosa City Council President Harrison Taylor. He said that as a young man he was told that a downtown is not complete unless it has a hotel. “And to think about it, Tuscaloosa will now have two good hotels downtown.”As for the Home2 Suites by Hilton, Harrell noted it is a relatively new brand in the Hilton organization, which also includes Embassy Suites. The brand is only a few years old and has 38 hotels. Five more, including Tuscaloosa’s, are under construction and are in college towns that are in the Southeastern Conference or Big 12, he said.Hilton describes Home2 Suites as an “all-suite, mid-tier, extended-stay hotel brand designed with the budget-conscious traveler in mind.”About 40 to 60 percent of Home2 Suites guests are business travelers who will stay for several nights but the rest are travelers who will stay for the night. Harrell said.The hotel’s amenities will include an indoor pool, fitness room with a guest laundry and free continental breakfasts. The hotel’s rooms include studio and one-bedroom suites, both of which have studio kitchens. It will have about 25 employees when it opens.